"As you can imagine, this is a very hard time for the governor and the first lady. Sutter is a very important part of their family. He's a very important part of the governor's office family, really, and the entire capitol family. So we're all pulling for him. He's a fighter. We're hoping he'll pull through this," Brown's spokeperson Deborah Hoffman said.

Sutter turned 13 last month, which is about the average life span for a Pembroke Welsh Corgi.